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Jail for man who got 14-year-old schoolgirl pregnant

A MAN who ‘took advantage’ of a schoolgirl and got her pregnant has been jailed.

Christopher Dawe, aged 27, of Trusthams, Broadwindsor, admitted two counts of sexual activity with a child and was ordered to be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

The schoolgirl was 14 when it was discovered she was pregnant by Dawe, pictured right.

Dorchester Crown Court heard that the offences took place just months after Dawe had been served with a Child Abduction Warning Notice in relation to contact made via social media with another young girl.

Prosecutor Mark Ashley said that in the case relating to the most recent offences, the alarm was first raised by the teenager’s father in November 2012, but the youngster denied any contact had taken place.

Dawe was arrested in November last year and admitted the contact when he was presented with DNA evidence showing he was the father of the schoolgirl’s child.

In mitigation, Tim Shorter said: “Mr Dawe has to accept, and does accept, that regardless of the extent of a relationship between them, she is the victim and must be treated as the victim.”

Judge Roger Jarvis sentenced Dawe to three years’ imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently.

He ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and made him subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) to be in place until further notice.

Judge Jarvis said: “Even though you are before the courts for the first time I can see that earlier in time to these offences you had come to the attention of the authorities because a Child Abduction Warning Notice had been issued in July 2012.

“After that, once again, you came to the attention of child services when a referral was made in September 2013.”

He added: “At the time of these offences you were a mature man and she was little more than a child.